All-party support builds for motion on Pope apology
OTTAWA— A possible all-party consensus is emerging to support an NDP motion to call on Pope Francis to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the horrors of the Indigenous residential school system.
Charlie Angus, the New Democrat MP for Timmins—James Bay, who drafted the motion, said it is important for the House of Commons to speak unanimously on the need for an apology, just weeks after the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) announced the pope would not “personally respond” to the long-standing call for an official apology from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The commission’s final report in 2015, which outlined the consequences of the residential school system in Canada, asked the pope to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role “in the spiritual, cultural, emotional, physical and sexual abuse” of First Nations, Inuit and Métis children who attended the schools between the late 19th century and when the last one closed in 1996.
The CCCB did not respond to requests for an interview from the Star on Friday.
“This is about moral leadership,” Angus said. “There is no moving on as a nation until we deal with reconciliation. The Catholic Church could play a huge role in building a positive relationship with Indigenous people in this country, and I think it’s a basic moral question.”
The Liberal government is ready to support Angus’s motion, while the smaller parties in the House, the Bloc Québécois, Green Party and Groupe parlementaire québécois, have indicated they will back it as well, Angus said.
“We welcome the opportunity for the House of Commons to add its voice to demonstrate that this important step in reconciliation is not a partisan issue,” Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said Friday in a statement.
Conservative Party spokesperson Jake Enwright told the Star the caucus will discuss the matter next week, but that Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer “believes that any organization, institution, individual that had a role in this very dark chapter in Canadian history should apologize.”
Angus noted Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered the government’s official apology for creating the residential schools in the House of Commons in 2008. “I do not see that this needs to be a partisan issue,” he said.